Improvement in eastening wearing-apparel, shoes



Letters Patent No, 75,924,- dated March 24, 1868.

'InnenoVEMnlrrI INrAsTnNINe Waarna-'APPAREL ssoss, a.

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TO ,WHOM IIJMAYCONCERN:

Be it known that we, RoswELn Jonson` and WILLIAM HjLrNcH, bothof-Matteawan, in the county of Dutchess, and -State of Ne\i"`Y-1rk,l1ave invented u certain 'new and useful De'vice for FasteningWearing'- Appareh Shoes, and other articles; .and we hereby declare thefollowing` to be zfull,"clear, and exact description ofthe same,reference'being-had to tli'cnccompanyingvdravrings.

"'lheobject of our invention'` is to provide u convenientfastening-device, which may he used to advantage in mostl caseswherenbuttons or other common fasteiiers are now employed, and whichwill take the place of'the .ordinary lacing-devices used in fasteningcorsets, shoes, &c.; and to this end tit consists in joining the'partsrequiring to Vbe fastened together by a series of slides securedunsuitable distances from each other upon a strip .or band of pliablematerial, by which they nre alsovcovered and protected,iandprovided withjaws which grasp wires, cords, or other suitable guides secured in ortotlieedges ofthe material.v

Byreason'of the pliability or lirnberness of the connecting-band,theslide's may be brought near together,"

-or drawn in' lonedirection orm'the other, or separated from each otherto. the -full'eiitent of the intervals at which they are placed ontheband. They can therefore be adjusted to any. desired position, and bysimply pushing the slidestogetherth'eshoe, corset, orother article ofapparel may. beIu-nfastened or opened'with perfect eas'e; and if'it-berequired to refasten the article, all that isnecessary to do is to drawthe slides apart by pulling on` the end of the connecting-hand, theslides, in their movement, gradually drawing the opposite sidesof the,opening together, by means of these jaws, which grasp the wires orother guides formed on theedges'of the material.

'.lo enable thoseV skilled in the artto understand and use ourinvention, we lwillv now proceed to describe theV Vntanner in `which thesame is or-may be carried into effect, by reference to'the'accompanyingdrawings, in \vhich `:Figure lrepresents'our invention applied to a pairof pa'ntnloons. I VFigures 2 and 3 are views of the same with therdevicein different positions; and

Figures 4, 5, and 6 represent, insectionlanud in perspective,thedetached-parts. y The fastening-device is composed of a series ofslides, a, the form of which is shown clearlyvin iigs. 5-and4 6,attached, at suitable distances from eachother, to a bander strip, b, ofstrong but pliable material; The

slide is perforated longitudinally at c @and throughtheseholesthe'thread c', which binds' the slide and band together, ispassed,`by means of aneedle or in any other manner. The ribbon or band bis applied to the top of and covers the slides, so that it not onlyshields them-from view, but is not caught or jammed between the .slideswhen-the latter are pushed together. The sides of the slidesY arerecessed, so asto form jaws, a", which4 grasp the edges'of the materialto be held together. To'this end, cords or wires'a-re .inserted intheedges to i which the slides are applied, which 'are received and heldbetween "the jaws a', the latter being contracted or drawn together attheir outer en'ds,vfar enough to prevent-the corded .edge'from beingpulled out from between them,l and yet.` at the same time to admit oftheir passing readily over the thinner material when the slide is movedup or down. .Y

The slides are made, preferably, of metal, and cast, as this givesgreater rigidity to the jaws, and presents their being readily heut orforced apart. l

The manner of usingjthe device is simple.. The jaws or loops of, theslides are slipped over the end of the corded edges to be held together,as shown in fig. 1, and, if it has not been done previously, the slidesare non attached, at suitable-intervals, to a. band or strap, in themanner hereinhefore explained, and as shown' in fig. 5;

Each end` of the band forms aloop orhandlef, for moving the slides. Bypulling downwards upon the upper loop, or upwards onthe lower loop, iniig. 1, the slides are pressed together towards the upper or lower end,s of the opening, as shown figs. Zand 3, thus permitting the pantaloonsto he,opened from the top or bottom of the slit?, as theA exigencyz-ofthe case may demand. The device is readily readjusted to the positionseen in tig, 1, by drawing 4up the strapl in -iig. 2, or pulling it downwhen in' the position represented in g. ,3.

It will he readily understood from the foregoing 'descriptionof ourinvention, thatV it can be applied to corsets or 'other articles of.lacing-apparel, orto shoes.

By drawingthe slides-up or down, asthe case may be, Vthe opening is'closed gradually, and without effort,

thus avoiding the annoying delays and other inconveniences which attendthe ordinary process of lacing.

As before said, tbe edges of tbe material-to which theslides are applied`are raised or enlarged by means of cords, wire, or other suitablemeans, which will prevent tbenla'terial from being pulled out from thejaws;

Having described our invention, and the manner in vwhich the same is ormay be carried into e'ect, wbt we claim, and desire to secure by LettersPatent; is as follows: A

As a. new article of mnnufacturehthe heein-described ga'rmenbfastener,the same consisting of a. series of solid double-jawed slides, providedwith perforations c c, and'combined witbia ribbon or band, whichv isapplied and held to the said slides in the manner and for the purposesherein shown and specified.

In testimony whereof, we khave signed our names to this specificatie'nbefore two subsoribing witnesses.

' RosWEpLL JUDsoN',

WM. H. LYNCH. Witnesses: l

WASHINGTON GREEN,

ANDREW M. ARTHUR.

